ACADEMY: U11s win Fleetwood Cup

United's U11 side travelled to Fleetwood Town's Poolfoot Farm training complex last weekend and, following some excellent work on the pitch, came away as winners of the Fleetwood Cup.

The lads saw off eight academy teams during the tournament including Fleetwood Town, Oldham Athletic, Preston North End and Accrington Stanley, before finally being crowned as winners with a 3-0 victory in the final.

Lead foundation phase coach Robbie Edgar said “The U11 coaches Carl Carr and Oliver Carswell asked the players to begin the tournament at a high intensity and lay a marker for how they would perform for the rest of the games.

"The lads did just that and showed maturity beyond their years to manage every situation that came their way. There was a slight twist in the rules of this 7v7 tournament in that when you scored a goal you were allowed to then take a penalty to make it worth two goals, but there was the risk of missing the penalty and having your initial goal wiped out, so the players had to really think and communicate their way through each game.

"What was particularly pleasing was that the lads only conceded one goal all day, which highlights just how much of a team victory this was.

"The boys had previously won this tournament at U9’s, but missed out at U10’s, so it was nice to get the Carlisle United name back on the trophy.

"It also gives us a good idea of how our U11’s squad is developing in relation to other professional club academies in the north.